Leah Remini Says Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology Are One and the Same

Actress Leah Remini left the Church of Scientology after three decades, and isn't holding back about what it was like to grow up in the controversial organization. She's releasing a new memoir, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, and it looks like there will be some major revelations.

In an interview with ABC News, the actress dished on Scientology's most famous face: Tom Cruise. "Being critical of Tom Cruise is being critical of Scientology itself… you are evil," she said. Apparently, Cruise was one of the factors that made her want to leave the church.

During an episode of her reality show, Leah Remini: It's All Relative, she explained what happens if you're critical of Scientology. "If you make a stink in the public world, they call you a suppressive person, which means the church has put a stamp on you that says you are bad," she said, adding that if you're a suppressive person, the church tells your friends and family to distance themselves. And now that she's an open critic of the church, she has said that close friends have completely cut ties with her, and don't respond when she approaches them in public.

In the 20/20 preview, Remini talks about just how different the bubble of Scientology can be. "As time goes on, you start to lose touch with the real world. The mindset becomes 'Us against them,'" she said. "The decision to leave is you are giving up everything you have ever known and everything you have worked for your whole life."

But now that she has moved on, she wants people to understand what it's like in the secretive organization. "I feel that people need to understand this has been my whole life," she said. "I want them to understand how it happens."

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